வாசியிலாப் பூசையுளான் வாதங் காணான்
வாகுறவே சொல்வதெலாம் வாசி மார்க்கம்
வாசியிலார் நேசித்தென் யோசித் தென்னே
வாதமது பலிக்காது பலிக்கா தப்பா
காசினியி லேசிடுவார் கசட ரென்றே
கண்ணியவள் மூக்கணாங் கயிறு கட்டி
வாசித்த னேயென்ன வேதை யாகும்
வரசித்தித் தாசியவள் போதைப் போதம்
vaasiyilaap poosaiyulaan vaathang kaaNaan
vaakuRavE solvathElaam vaasi maarkkam
vaasiyilaar nEsiththen yOsith thennE
vaathamathu palikkaathu palikkaa thappaa
kaasiniyi lEsiduvaar kasada rendrE
kaNNiyavaL mookkaNaang kayiRu katti
vaasiththa nEyenna vEthai yaagum
varasiththith thaasiyavaL pOthaip pOtham.
“He who performs worship without (knowing) vāsi will not perceive vādam.
Truly, whatever is spoken is the path of vāsi.
Why have I loved those without vāsi—having reflected, what then?
That vādam will not bear fruit; it will not bear fruit—wrong indeed.
Those who censure (others) in this world are said to be mere dross.
Tying a rope to the maiden’s nose/nostrils,
if one practises vāsi, what (true) Veda/seed will it become!
The boon-like siddhi—of that dāsi-woman, intoxication and awakening (pōtai–pōtam).”
Outer ritual and talk do not mature into realization; the effective “method” is vāsi—disciplined breath/inner control. Arguments (and/or vāta disturbances) do not yield the goal. Those who waste life in blame and social noise are “dross.” By “tying a rope to the nose”—i.e., bringing the breath through the nostrils under command—one turns practice itself into scripture: direct knowing replaces second-hand Veda. Then the feminine power figured as a maiden/dāsi (Śakti/kuṇḍalinī, or the sense-mind once tamed) gives a paradoxical state: a bliss that feels like intoxication yet is also clear awakening, and this ripens as siddhi.
1) Vāsi as the inner rite: In Siddhar usage, “vāsi” commonly points to breath-regulation/retention and the subtle discipline by which mind and prāṇa are gathered. Calling it “mārkkam” (path) implies a soteriological method, not merely physiology.
2) “Pūjai without vāsi”: This critiques external worship devoid of inner transformation. The Siddhar suggests that without prāṇa-mastery the ritual remains surface-level; it neither cures inner disorder nor opens insight.
3) Vādam as double-entendre: “vādam” can mean (a) disputation/argumentation (vāda) and/or (b) “vātham,” the vāta principle (wind-humour) in Siddha medicine. The verse can therefore be read as rejecting sterile debate and also as stating that vāsi subdues vāta disturbances (prāṇa/wind becomes governable).
4) “Dross” and spiritual metallurgy: Calling slanderers “kasaṭu” (dross/impurity) is moral and alchemical at once: their speech is like slag that cannot become “gold.” Siddhar writing often maps ethical impurities onto the language of refining.
5) “Rope on the nose/nostrils”: Leading an animal by a nose-rope is a traditional control-image. Here it signifies mastering the breath at the nostrils (where prāṇa is most immediately grasped). It also hints at directing iḍā–piṅgalā (left/right nostril flows), hence the yogic technology behind the metaphor.
6) “Veda/seed”: “vēdai” can point to Veda (revealed scripture) or be heard against “vithai” (seed). The teaching: once vāsi is established, lived realization becomes the true ‘scripture,’ and/or the practice becomes the seed that germinates into knowledge and power.
7) Maiden/dāsi and the pāthai–pōtam pun: The feminine figure can be read as Śakti/kuṇḍalinī (sometimes called a ‘servant’ when subordinated to the yogin’s discipline) or as the sense-mind that is first alluring (maiden/prostitute imagery) and later harnessed. “Pōtai–pōtam” keeps deliberate ambiguity: ecstasy resembling intoxication, yet simultaneously “bodham” (wakeful awareness/gnosis). The siddhi described is therefore not merely miraculous power but transformed consciousness.